Outdoor Christmas Lights

November 29, 2017/

I gotta say even though Christmas is only a few weeks away, it doesn’t feel like it. Could be we haven’t seen any snow yet. We decided while the temperatures are still decent we would put up our outdoor lights.

No need for a stool.

First up was the driveway lights. We have three lamp posts going up the driveway and each post has three lights. Every year we swap out the regular bulbs with green and red bulbs. Some years we have to climb on snowbanks to get it done but not this time, no coat required either. These driveway lights are on a timer we have set for a few hours every evening.

Our house can’t be seen from the pavement so after decorating like mad the first few years, we decided instead to light up the side that faces the lake.

One year we built a very large star and put lights on it. It was really nice but at the end of the season we took it all apart and put everything away. Should have kept it. The next year we decided to build something different, so we built a large Christmas tree. We got smart and didn’t disassemble it. We store it in the garage up on the ceiling, lights and all. Makes for quick work decorating for Christmas.

Once we got it out of the garage, we plugged it in to see if we needed to replace any of the bulbs.

Told you it was huge.

In order to secure it to the front of the house we needed an 8 foot board to screw to the deck posts for the tree to rest on.

Use the same holes each year.

Then we hoist it up and rest it on the board.

Looked bigger on the ground.

Here is where I come in. I hold it in place while Jim goes in the house and out onto the deck to screw the upper portion in place.

Attaching the tree to the railing.

We haven’t started turning them on at night yet. Soon. We have this tree on a timer too so it will come on at dusk automatically. One year we had the tree up higher but in the wind the top would be blowing back and forth and banging into the railing.